The vanishing guayacan
By Victoria Torley
Special to A.M. Costa Rica
We have some fascinating trees in Costa Rica, some imported, some native. Some are fast-growing and spread easily, others take time to grow and the right conditions. The later, often prized for their wood, are often on the brink of extinction.
One such tree is the Guaiacum sanctum, locally called the guayacán or guayacán real. It is a survivor. How? Usually, it survives by hiding in unlikely places.
One survivor has been given its own name, Magón, and is secluded on a farm somewhere in northern Guanacaste. Don’t ask where. This magnificent tree is known to be over a thousand years old but, unlike Guanacaste trees of similar age, its trunk is only 80 centimeters (about three feet) in diameter. Therein is the issue. Surviving guayacán grow very slowly and produce an incredibly dense wood. Young trees are often destroyed before they are identified when fields are being made plow-ready and few people have the awareness or the time to nurture one of these trees to maturity.
It is, after all, a many decades process. Habitat fragmentation has helped marginalize the guayacán. Again, seedlings are destroyed when fields expand.
And that dense wood? Highly prized for shipbuilding in centuries past because it is a member of the creosote family. The hard dense wood is impervious to water, slow to rot and self-lubricating. Resins made from the tree were sought after for sealing other wood against sea water. The wood is considered to be some of the hardest ever known and a nail can’t be driven into it. In the past, it was used for boat propellers, mallets, and gears.
The tree has two secondary names, lignum vitae (wood of life) and holy wood (palo santo) for its medicinal qualities. The resins are used to treat arthritis, gout, and rheumatism.
It seems a real shame that this lovely tree which, given time, will produce blue flowers with five petals and attractive orange seed pods, should be endangered, but its wood and resins have driven it onto the endangered list world-wide.
What can we do? Look for a guayacán seedling. Plant with care in full sun or partial shade in well-drained soils. Water well when the tree is becoming established and the tree will have some drought tolerance. Guayacáns tolerate both wind and salt spray. Once established the guayacán will grow to 4-9 meters tall with a similar spread and makes a wonderful shade or accent tree.
Just where can you find a guayacán? Specimens are available at Cocobolo Tree Farm located between Liberia and Bagaces on the Interamericana. Call ahead for directions. Let’s plant this ancient tree and save it from extinction.
Plant for the Week
Begonias are great flowers. Up north we grew them in the shade, here they seem to love the sun – go figure. This is one of the most colorful of the begonias not just for its blooms but for its foliage, so deep a purple that it seems almost black and with a colorful underside. Keep your soil well-drained and your begonias will do well.
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For more information on this article of request for information
about gardening, Ms. Victoria Torley, gardener columnist, can be
reached at victoriatorley1@gmail.com
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